


Ready, Steady, Derby!

by GayKiba



Series: Heith Week 2017 [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roller Derby, Gen, M/M, Roller Derby, Roller Derby AU, YEAH I'M GOING ALL OUT ON THIS ONE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-04 06:45:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10270649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayKiba/pseuds/GayKiba
Summary: Hunk finally manages to attend one of his boyfriend’s roller derby matches. He wonders if it’s possible to die of both a heart attack through sheer terror and heart-stopping pride.





	

**Author's Note:**

> ROLLER DERBY IS A GAME AND WE USUALLY PLAY AT NIGHT SO GAME + NIGHT HELL YEAH

— **Day 5: Game Night**

 

 

The first game had clashed with a family event. The second he’d had schoolwork to finish up. The third had clashed with a different school thing, and the fourth he’d had to pick one of his brothers up at the airport. The fifth he’d meant to go to, but then there’d been a lancemergency (A Lance-emergency) and those popped up whenever they felt like kicking Lance in the ass, so that had been unavoidable. Keith had always understood, though, but Hunk had felt terrible.

Which was why he was so thrilled that, finally, sixth times the charm, he was paying his five dollars for admission to a Castle of the Lions Roller Derby home game.

Bout. Keith said roller derby games were called bouts. Hunk was pretty bad with all the terms, but Keith didn’t mind explaining it to him again and again; Keith loved the sport. Hunk, who had grown up in a sporty family, firmly reminded himself he’d seen way too many rugby matches to feel as nervous for Keith’s safety as he did.

Keith was just way smaller than Hunk’s older brothers. Hunk’s older brothers hadn’t been on _roller skates_ , either.

“Hunk!” He glanced up at the sound of Lance’s voice. Lance waved an arm excitedly from a camp chair. Hunk had also bought one (apparently, you could sit up right close to the action, but you needed to bring your own seating for that), so he went over to him and opened his up next to his friend’s. “You finally made it!”

Hunk laughed as he sat down, nudging Matt, who was sitting on the ground on a picnic blanket, with his foot. Matt glanced up from his phone and waved his fingers. “Yeah,” Hunk agreed, turning his attention back to Lance. “After a while six times!”

Lance hit his arm enthusiastically. “Right?! It’s gonna be awesome!” Lance settled down after that, looking proud. “I’ll point everything out to you though, okay, so don’t even sweat it.”

Hunk nodded, grateful. He’d googled stuff, and Keith had told him a lot about it, but Hunk wasn’t too sure of his ability to work out what was happening while everyone was zipping around in the oval-shaped track. Lance was a frequent non-skating official (an NSO, Hunk had to remind himself), which meant he not only knew how the game was played, he also helped it run smoothly.

“they’re all still gearing up,” Lance leaned over his canvas arm rest to tell him. “CLRD does a lot of warm-up off-skates before a bout.”

CLRD. Castle of the Lions Roller Derby. Hunk remembered that. “Okay,” Hunk said, slowly, trying to think back to a childhood of Saturday mornings in the bleachers. “Like stretching and stuff?” Easy enough; any sport did that.

Lance nodded enthusiastically, then got distracted when a group of black-and-white striped skaters- referees, of course -started to skate around the track. “Yeah! Look, there’s Shiro-! SHIRO!” Lance yelled, and one of them glanced up and skated over to them. As they neared, Hunk found he could recognise Keith’s older brother, even with a helmet on.

He grinned at him. “Hunk! Finally made it!” He said, laughing, and stopped in front of them. Matt reached out with a foot and hit his leg in greeting. “I drove you here!” Shiro said down at him in protest, nudging him back with a skate.

When Shiro looked back up at him, Hunk smiled. “Yeah, finally! You’re a referee,” He pointed out, to show Lance he knew that much, at least.

Shiro nodded in agreement. “I am! I’m inside pack ref!” Hunk made a point not to react, so Siro went on; “There’s two of us, and we watch the eight blockers. Then there's two jammer refs. You remember what a jammer is, right?”

Hunk waved a hand. “Of course I do! That’s Keith!”

Shiro winked. Hunk had never seen his boyfriend’s mature older brother so relaxed and playful. “That’s right! Lance, point everyone out when they skate in, alright? I gotta check something,” He said, distracted by a person in black (Rolo, a mutual acquaintance, Hunk placed as he got closer) jogged towards him, and he skated over to him.

“Rolo’s penalty box manager,” Lance said. “Keith goes there _a lot_.”

Hunk frowned. “He gets a lot of penalties?”

Lance nodded. “Oh yeah; mostly hitting people wrong, the hot-head.”

“Katie plays clean,” Matt piped up, glancing back at them. “Gives our mother a heart attack that she plays at all, but she’s clean.”

“Yeah! Pidge is a jammer, too; Allura, Keith, Pidge, they all jam,” Lance told him. “Allura prefers pivot, though. She’s the captain!”

“Keith’s the alternate, though,” Matt added.

“Ye-” Lance looked over at him, and Hunk must have looked as lost a he felt. “If Allura fouls out- she never has, by the way -then Keith’s the alternate captain. The pivot is one of the four blockers.”

Hunk nodded slowly. “And they have to stop the other jammer, right?”

“And help their jammer get through! They’re really good, though, so I think they’re gonna win this time around,” Lance added.

“Who’re they bouting again?” Matt asked from the floor.

“Team Galra- you know, Haggar and Nyma and all them,” Lance said down at him.

Hunk grimaced. Haggar had skated with Allura before Keith had joined up, and then left to join Galra- where Keith had started, but once he was experienced enough, decided he didn’t want to stick with. He’d joined Castle of the Lions, and after a rocky start he was a fixture on their playing team. Allura didn’t get along with Haggar anymore; she’d poached Nyma for Galra when she was just beginning, and their relationship really deteriorated from there.

Hunk wasn’t too unfamiliar with the practice- it happened in every sport -but he hoped Keith kept a level head about it and played smart. There was just too many ways he could hurt himself on skates.

“Oh, here they come!” Lance pointed out to him, and he was right; the Castle of the Lions girls were all skating onto the track, warming up. Hunk saw Pidge, a head shorter than everyone else, and Allura, her white hair distinctive even plaited down her back.

“HUNK!” Hunk whirled around, jerking back when he saw a skater about to crash into him, but they stopped just in time, and Hunk grinned up at Keith.

“Hey!” He greeted, and Keith dropped to his knees with a bang, his plastic knee guards making a loud sound against the concrete.

He fished around in his mouth, then pulled out his red mouthguard. “You made it,” He said, sounding thrilled. Hunk felt significantly better, seeing him in all his protective gear. Way more than his brothers ever had.

Hunk grinned. “Told you I’d make it one of these days.”

Keith smiled, then leaned over to talk to Lance. “You better explain it, alright?!” He demanded.

Lance made an offended sound. “I _was!_ ”

“I got him,” Matt said, waving a hand, and Lance gasped, outraged.

Hunk laughed, and Keith got up. “I’ll stop by during halftime, okay?”

“Sure,” Hunk said, and Keith brushed the backs of his fingers over his upper arm before skating off to the track; the most he could do, considering he was wearing wrist guards.

“See, that’s his derby name,” Lance added. “ _Red paladin_. Allura is _Princess Lyon_ , Pidge is _Green Paladin_ , and Shiro just uses _Shiro_. Oh! Shay is _Body-rock_ \- she’s a blocker, mostly -and her brother, you can see him, he’s the buffest damn ref here, he’s _Rowdy-rock_ ; they match. It’s cute.” Hunk waved at them (they were his friends, and how he’d met Keith, after all) but they were obviously busy. Keith saw it, though, and nudged Shay, and must have told her, because she turned and waved back.

“Coran’s is _Handsomeman_ ,” Matt said with a laugh. “He’s the head ref; see, there he is,” He added, and Hunk could see his moustache from here. “His super-power is being handsome.”

Hunk chuckled. That sounded like Allura’s legal guardian, alright.

“It’s starting!” Lance said excitedly, and Hunk leaned towards him, listening intently to the commentary as Keith prepared himself on the jammer line.

 

* * *

 

It was singularly the most exhilarating and terrifying thing Hunk had ever seen. It wasn’t like Rugby, where at least there was a ball to grapple over; they just _bodily hurled themselves at the jammer_ , because the jammer _was_ the ball in this case.

Keith was good, though; he felt a victorious sort of pride when he shot out of the pack- all the skaters trying to help or stop the jammer, Lance had pointed out. It was like when someone dived for one of his older brothers but missed, and when Keith skated over to him he stood up and scooped him up in a hug, even though he was wet with sweat and smelled terrible, and had technically ended that half on a penalty. He didn’t get eight of them and foul out, though, so Hunk was proud, even though they lost by two points.

“Sendak gave those to them,” Shiro said afterwards, looking frustrated. “As soon as Zarkon says something he just does it, and Alfor’s too fair-play to do anything about it.”

“can’t Coran do something about it?” Matt asked. Matt also refereed, Hunk had learned, but he’d hurt his knee recently, and wasn’t allowed to skate.

“No; Alfor tells him to leave it, so he does, and-” Shiro threw his hands up. “I hate reffing with Sendak the most, I swear to God; I’d rather Varkon, and he’s just plain incompetent.”

“He’s learning!” Matt protested.

Shiro didn’t look impressed. “For five years?”

Hunk, who was completely lost, allowed Lance to drag him off to see the team. “Ladies! You looked incredible out there!” Lance greeted them. Laughing, there was a chorus of thank yous. “ _Grand Prix_ , I love you, marry me,” He said sincerely, and Plaxum laughed. “ _Queen Mermad_! I saw you knock Nyma right out! I think Swirn got a great picture of it, too.” Luxia dipped her head in thanks.

“Where’s Allura?” Hunk leaned in to ask Lance.

Lance indicated behind them, and Hunk looked over to the corner where Shiro was heading, where various other referees were gearing down. “She and Shiro are probably gonna complain together,” Lance explained, and Hunk spotted her, gear off, waiting with arms crossed as Shiro grabbed his bag and skated over to her, away from the other refs- and Sendak.

“Hey Hunk,” Keith said quietly, coming up to him. He had all his gear in his skate bag, his hair wet with sweat, but he seemed pleased. “Have fun?”

Hunk held a hand out for Keith’s bag. “I did! I don’t think I understood any of it, but you were so fast!”

Keith pulled his bag away from him. “It stinks really bad,” He explained.

Hunk shrugged. “Oh, I know. I can smell you from here.” Keith scoffed at that, and forked it over. He picked Keith up from his training some nights, and he always reeked of sweat. Hunk was used to it. “You ready to go?”

Keith nodded, then took a breath, turned to his team, and yelled; “ _When I say ‘Vol’, you say ‘tron’! VOL!_ ”

“ _TRON!_ ”

“ _VOL!_ ”

“ _TRON!_ ”

“ _VOL!_ ”

“ _TRON!_ DEFENDERS OF THE UNIVERSE!” They finished, and laughed loudly. There was clapping from behind them, and Hunk spotted Shiro and Allura cheering. Officially disbanded, Keith nodded to him; they were good to go.

“I came up with that,” Lance said to him proudly.

Keith rolled his eyes; he acted like he hated it in front of Lance, because it had taken him longer than he cared to admit to get it. Sometimes, though, he played the recording of it Lance had filmed for Hunk, to psyche himself up. Hunk laughed, slinging an arm around either of them. After a long night of derby, Hunk always got there in time to drive them home, at least.

It was nicer to be able to do that after having watched the action himself, he thought.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry for all the roller derby terminology I got overzealous. Anyway here it is I hope you like ROLLER DERBY


End file.
